Dirty politics, Odinga claims President Uhuru Kenyatta fixed Ruto at the ICC

By Maureen Murimi, Citizen Digital

6 October 2015

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of playing a pivotal role in fixing his deputy William Ruto at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

CORD, through its leader Raila Odinga, alleged that President Kenyatta was part of the group that implicated Ruto to ICC.

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Odinga claimed that this was evident following recent remarks by the controversial Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria who has been naming people who allegedly coached witnesses for the ICC.

Odinga now says that Kuria’s remarks are emanating from President Kenyatta and called on him to come clear and tell the Kenyans his role in DP Ruto’s site.

In a statement to the newsrooms, Odinga claimed that Kuria was acting for Kenyatta while procuring witnesses for the ICC.

“Kenyans need to know other equally critical facts that Mr. Kuria and the Jubilee brigade are not talking about in the regard to the case against Mr. Ruto. Moses Kuria was an employee and a political assistant to Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta when he arranged the procuring of witnesses to fix Deputy President William Ruto,” read the statement.

“Kuria worked for Uhuru Kenyatta from 2008. He worked at the UK Centre at Baden Powell House as Uhuru’s political assistant up to 2014.”

Odinga said the work Kuria did during the course of his employment must be presumed to have been done for and on behalf of his Principal, Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We, therefore, find it rather awkward and hypocritical for some people to allege that the ODM leadership “fixed” our comrade William Ruto, who was at the center of our negotiations,” further read the statement.

“The time has come for Uhuru to come out and tell Kenyans what his role was in the fixing of his deputy Mr. Ruto. These other machinations disguised as prayers and attempts to drag other people’s names into the witness procuring scheme that was known only to Kuria are only meant to lull Mr. Ruto’s supporters and create a false sense of security for them. Uhuru owes Kenyans and his deputy the truth.”

Kuria’s pronouncements on the on-going ICC cases began in September when he claimed that Odinga and Narc Kenya party leader Martha Kuria helped fix Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang at the ICC.

Kuria alleged that both PNU and ODM wings of the Grand Coalition government wrote letter to the ICC pointing fingers and the rival camp for the 2007/08 post-election violence.

Ruto was then a member of the Pentagon in ODM.

Kuria claimed that PNU members, led by himself and Karua, wrote letters blaming Ruto for the violence, allegations he now claims were politically instigated.

He further stated that the then ODM Secretary General Anyang Nyong’o, on behalf of ODM party leader Raila Odinga, wrote to International bodies to oppose efforts by PNU leaders to have the cases tried locally, instead preferring trials at the international court.

Karua has since sued Kuria for defamation calling on the court to stop the Gatundu South MP from making further allegations linking her to the ICC cases.